Safe Haven
by Just One More Sentence
Summary: Running, like a coward from someone I can defeat on my own. He says he wants to kill me, but I doubt he will. Besides, I have something he wants. Will he kill me before the dark haired cutie can save me, or will this "killer" bring me to my end? Guess you'll have to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Her feet splashed in the cold water of the forest. She couldn't look back—wouldn't look back. He was chasing her, wanting her for all she had and what she wouldn't give to him. Her lungs were burning from her miles of running, and she could feel her body becoming weak. The joints of her knees grinded against each other, her booted feet in pain. If he caught her now, after all those months she spent running from him, all of her parents' efforts to keep this… this object from him would be wasted. She just _had_ to keep going.

"Get back here!" he shouted at her.

She growled and quickened her pace, changing her route left to throw him off her trail. It was difficult to see in the dim light the trees gave her, and she stumbled over a tree root, going down hard into the mud. She squeaked in surprise and pain, pulling herself up again only to have him yank her back. "You can't escape me."

"I sure as hell can try." She spat in his eye, giving herself a distraction as he released her to wipe it away and took off for the edge of the woods.

Her ankle groaned in protest as her feet hit the rocky earth of the Massachusetts shoreline. She had busted through the trees in a matter of minutes, hearing him screaming her name with insults after it. The breeze felt great against her feverish skin, and when she came to the first gas station, she hurried inside and stopped to catch her breath.

"Are you okay, Miss?" the store clerk asked, lifting his red hat off of his blond head to get a better look at her.

She regarded him carefully before deciding to speak. "I'm fine. My car broke down miles back, and I had to run to get help."

"Well, I can call a tow truck company if you want."

"No, that won't be necessary. It was a piece of crap anyway." she said, standing up and holding her side. "How far is the nearest town?"

"About five miles."

"Would you mind taking me there?"

"Sure, Miss."

She thanked him and before beginning her search of a worthy snack, hoping she had enough money to pay the guy. Sitting her items on the counter, she reached for the wad of cash she has shoved into her pocket before leaving the basement of her own house where he had held her hostage. The clerk held up a hand, signaling for her to stop, and passed the stuff back to her. "No charge."

"Really, it's no trouble. I can pay."

"Nah, that's alright. Come on before the storm rides in."

After he closed up shop, he motioned her to the back where his truck sat underneath the shelter of an old shed. She hopped in, rubbing her arms for extra warmth from the cold that had seeped its way into her body. It grumbled to life when he cranked it up, stalling a couple seconds as he tried to shift the gears. Soon, they were on the road, rolling to the town the store guy had called Ipswich. Many times he tried to carry on a conversation with her, but she shut him out, staying in silence until they reached the small city. Apartment houses and buildings passed before her, all appearing small in the faint light that came off from the light posts. Just as they passed a dollar store, she threw her hand out, causing the old truck to jerk to a stop. "Can we stop at that store there?"

"I don't see why not." He started the engine again and made a U-turn, sliding into a parking spot close to the front. "Do you need me to wait on you?"

"No, I'll call some friends to come and get me." She said as she jumped out the passenger seat.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll find somewhere to stay until then. Thanks for the ride."

"Any time, Miss."

The yellow headlights faded from the window, leaving her in the half dark of the cold. She shuffled inside, crossing her arms over her sides to keep warm. Inside the store was like heaven, it was so warm. Its bright lights hurt her eyes a bit, but they quickly adjusted. She staggered around the place, not really knowing what to look for, while at the same, time earning stares from the shoppers. Finally, she gave up trying to find what she thought she had needed when she passed by a glasses display, catching her reflection in the mirror. No wonder that guy had let her have the food and given her a free ride; she looked like someone who had been living in the woods for a while. Her deep brown hair was caked with dirt, bits of leaves stuck in there from when she was running through short branches. Dirt was smudged across her cheekbones and nose. She shuddered and moved to let a customer pass her.

"Do you need help, dear?" an old lady asked her.

"No ma'am, I'm just looking." A thought bombarded her mind, pulling the chain on the light bulb. "Actually, I need some glasses for reading. Can you tell me what number this is?"

She jogged to the police station, her bags slapping her thighs as she did. It was a small station, and few officers were there. Some people sat on the benches in the far corner. She strode to the desk where the police secretary sat. "May I help you?"

"Do you mind if I call someone to come pick me up?" she questioned, hoping her little session in the bathroom of the store had gotten most of the dirt and bramble from her hair and face.

"Ma'am, this is a police station, not the local telephone."

"I know that, but my friends dropped me off at the store and didn't come back." She held up the yellow plastic bags her supplies were in. "And I left my phone at home."

The secretary sighed but nodded her head. She smiled at the woman and sat her stuff down, reaching for the phone and dialing a barely familiar number. It rang twice before it was picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, can you do me a favour?"

The person on the other line gasped. "Ingrid Pope? I can't believe it's you! You had me worried sick!"

"Yeah, yeah, nice to hear from you, too. Look, are you going to do this favour or not?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Ingrid. Ingrid!" Somebody was shaking me.

I groaned and opened one eye to see who it was that had the audacity to wake me from my sweet sleep. It was Shannon. She had the guts to. "What do you want?"

"For you to get up."

"Can't I just lay here?"

"No. You have paperwork to fill out."

I groaned again and threw the covers back to let the cold sting my bare legs. She smiled at me then turned to go back downstairs. Light from the far window burned my eyes, and I considered going back to sleep. Knowing Shannon would eat me alive if I did, I pushed off the side of the bed and grabbed the clothes from off the floor, heading to the bathroom. A couple minutes later, I shuffled out, still in my morning daze, to the kitchen where she was cooking and arguing with someone one the phone.

"She is an exceptional student, I'll have you know. She deserves to go to your academy." Academy? Oh no.

I sat down on the stool at the island and waited for my plate of food, watching her twirl a piece of dark blond hair around her bird finger. She bit her lip, pausing to let the person finish.

"I wouldn't want to go to your damn school, anyway. You probably have black mold." With that, she hung up and slammed the receiver on the counter top. "Prick."

"Hey now. Exceptional student here. Chill with the negative language. We wouldn't want me to end up like those other people."

She made a mocking face at me, sliding that finger up at me in anger. I grinned at her with jelly toast teeth. "Hurry up and finish eating. We're going to Boston to get you clothes and a car so I don't have to take you to school like a child." She paused, looking at me. "You have your license, don't you?"

I nodded, my mouth full of orange juice.

"Alright. Well, like I said, hurry up. We don't have all day."

Shannon tossed a shirt at me over the door of the changing room I currently was using. I pulled the dress off, throwing it back on the hanger and yanking the neon green tank top off its own. The door opened to reveal Shannon typing away on her cell phone. I coughed to get her attention.

"Aw, honey! You look so beautiful." she said, a smile crossing her face. "That one too?"

"Yeah, but it's just a tank top, so how am I beautiful in that?"

Shannon slapped my arm. "Oh, you know what I mean."

"Sure I do." I grinned at her as I picked up the many hangers and tossed them in the cart.

"Anything else?"

I pulled the clothing off my body, tugging my sweater back on, and stepped out of the changing stall. "Not that I can think of. Where to now?"

"The cashier then to a car lot. By the way, I got you an place in a prep school if that's okay."

"Yeah, sure." No it wasn't. She knew I hated preparatory schools. "What school?"

"Spenser Academy. It's in Ipswich, so you won't have far to travel."

"That's good, I guess."

Shannon stepped up in line, lifting the clothes onto the counter. The girl behind the register, a deep-dyed blond with a terrible sense in fashion, regarded her while she slid the tags across the scanner. I watched the cost rise higher and higher with each item, feeling guilt rise up in my stomach or maybe it was the Chinese food talking, who knew. Blondie smacked her gum and totaled up the haul. "Do you have a savings card with us, ma'am?"

"I do, but I left it at home."

"That's all right. Let me get your e-mail."

Shannon rolled it off while I stared at the far wall. Mirrors that ran the height of the brick reflected me back at myself. All of the dirt from the previous night had been washed away, my once dark hair a red colour. The clothes weren't mine; Shannon's daughter had moved to her dad's, and surprisingly, I could fit what little clothes she left behind. I didn't understand why I couldn't use those, she had left some, maybe nine outfits. But no matter how much I had protested during breakfast, Shannon kept insisting we go get more. "Ingrid, are you coming, or are you going to stand there like an idiot?"

I shook my head to clear the thoughts that rested there, festering until they were a big jumbled mess. "Coming."

We didn't speak on the way to the lot, and I stared out the window with my headphones stuck in my ears. My Chemical Romance was playing a slow ballad that sped up to a fast punk song. I really liked these guys, loved how they're songs seemed true. The song ended, slipping into some other song that sounded whiny. I skipped it, heading to Flyleaf's "There For You". Man, this song was sad.

"Hey, pay attention."

I pulled on headphone out of my lobe, looking at her with an expression of small anger. She explained to me how she knew the owner of the lot and how he'd give us a discount on a good car, and how I should choose a really good car because she wasn't going to buy me another one if I wrecked it or it messed up. I nodded, pretending to listen as she droned on, her voice fading to the bass drum of "Break Away". Shannon pulled into the parking lot of the dealership and stole a spot from this lady who scowled at me as she pulled into the one beside us. Bitch.

Shannon had let me drive back to her house after we left the guy who sold me the car I was currently driving. It was a sleek, grey convertible Audi TT, a little fast sports car I pushed Shannon into getting. She didn't like my choice, but she could stick it. We had stopped by the school to fill out papers and pick up my uniform. I hate uniforms, too, and much like the prep school itself, it made me look like a stuck up fake bitch that's a daddy's girl and gets everything she wants. It kind of made me wonder what my car said about me. My cell phone rang in the cup holder, blaring the ringtone Shannon had set for herself. I let it go to voice mail and pulled in behind her SUV.

"Was there something you needed?" I asked, getting out and locking the car. "Couldn't it have waited till I got home?"

"Eleanor Leto?" she asked me.

"Look, I had to pass as your daughter since I'm living here. And what happens if _he_ finds me? Then what?"

"Doesn't he know your middle name?"

"Not really. I know what I'm doing, okay? Can you trust me?"

Shannon sighed, rubbing her temples and squeezing her nose bridge, but she nodded her head. I shook my hair out of my face and walked past her. The day's dirtiness had settled into my skin, making it oily. My hair probably needed another washing with the conditioner I got from the stylist to set the colour and make it last longer. "I'm going to take a shower!"

She yelled her okay, saying something about dinner and hurrying up. I turned the knob on, peeling off the clothes and grabbing a towel. As the water heated up, I looked at my body in the mirror, seeing all the small scars that decorated my skin. They were from him, from his hours of torture to get me to give him the thing he wanted most. He said I had my father's endurance, something that had made his torture painful and overdrawn, unlike my mother's. He said she was a soft one when it came to pain, and he couldn't understand how she bared me. I grit my teeth at the memory, hating him with every cell in my small being. The scar on my hip flared in pain at the hot water when I stepped in. I sucked in my breath and quickly added more cold to the mixture. Once it felt better on my arm, I slowly pushed my hip under it and rubbed the damaged tissue. He had done that after I tried to escape for the millionth time following my parents' deaths. Said he'd cut my hip so deep that I wouldn't be able to walk for a while, and I didn't. I don't even know how it healed without an infection. I don't know how it healed period. Slowly, I washed my hair and my body, lingering a few extra minutes in the heat.

I flopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling of my room. I had yet to decorate it, so it still looked like a fourteen-year-old's room. She had posters of all the favourite boy bands on the pink walls. With a sigh, I dug my feet under the covers and tried to fall asleep, but sleep wouldn't let me catch it. Every time I tried to grab it, it fluttered away as my lids ripped open at the distant cars horns or dog barks. My head was in pain, a deep pounding near in my eyes' nerves. Knowing the pain wouldn't go away until I had medicine, I shrugged out of bed and to the bathroom. The calming sound of the water soothed my pounding aches and helped the pill work its magic. Tomorrow I'd have to go to that prep school that looked like an old church mixed with some other Victorian building. Maybe God'd kill me in my sleep so I wouldn't have to go and just end my misery here and now. But that was a fat chance. I trudged back to the pinkness that was the room I used and tried, once more, to find sleep. It was slow in coming to play, but it eventually found me where the Garden of Happy Memories was.

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**So, I tried to hurry up with this chapter and get it up before my deadline, which is today. As always, I have pictures of characters on my profile so go check those out. The Audi TT is actually a 2013 model, but for heaven's sake, let's just say it's an earlier model. Oh yeah, I don't really like writing stories that aren't really up to date because I'm so used to writing about the current stuff, so there's gonna be a lot of modern stuff up in here. I'll still try to keep close to the story line. Anyway, if you liked this story, give it a follow and/or favourite, and if you really liked it, leave a comment on your thoughts. I love hearing your feedback. Have an awesome Valentine's day!**

**JOMS **


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